


long distance

by highoctane



Category: Polygon/McElroy Vlogs & Podcasts RPF
Genre: Bean Sweater, Fluff, It's Pat, M/M, Mature Competent Professional Gays, Pat Should Be Taking Care of Brian David Gilbert, Someone Should Be Taking Care of Brian David Gilbert, Unfurnished, whatever epistolary is but for phone conversations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-05-12 06:25:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19223458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/highoctane/pseuds/highoctane
Summary: Pat can tell something's up with Brian the moment he sees him on camera - on camera! - unshaven and wearing an oversized hoodie. So he has to call and make sure he's okay. That's all.





	long distance

**Author's Note:**

> [holding limes] why can't i hold all these fic ideas, g o s h
> 
> A short little piece of fluff about boys who need each other more than they thought they did.

The video's not even over before he's calling.

"Hey, Pat," Brian answers after a few rings, as surprised as any millennial to be getting an actual phone call on the thing that usually plays music and delivers articles about climate change. "What's up?"

"Brian, what the _fuck_ ," is Pat's opening line, great, just—a real good boyfriend line, for sure, it's not like they're the first real words he's spoken to Brian since Pat left on Tuesday.

Brian's quiet for a beat, then makes a sound like he's sucking air through his teeth. "Ooooo-kay," he says, really drawing it out. "This a business call, Pat, or…?"

Pat makes a quick time zone calculation: it's just after noon in Los Angeles, so it's still the middle of the afternoon back in New York, so Brian's still at work. But it's also Friday afternoon, and Brian's essentially been at work for eleven out of the past twelve days because of the weekend streams, and he's just dropped a new video. Pat can imagine the state of him: given up on staying at his desk, in the thrall of the itchy energy that overtakes him after a video goes up. Camped out in one of the communal spaces, watching the hits come in on his laptop. Shoes off, probably, still unshaven… maybe still wearing Pat's sweater, like in the video.

"Pat?" Brian prompts, and Pat shakes his head to clear it. Not like Brian can see.

"Sorry, it's… no, I just—I just wanted to call. To say hi. And, uh, check on you. Sorry," he stammers, realizing that he didn't really have a plan beyond _call Brian_.

Brian makes a distracted noise. He's terrible when it's just voice chat; Pat doesn't know how he'd managed to keep up a long distance relationship. Pat can hear Brian typing, then a pause. "Hold on," Brian says, "I'm gonna go to one of the call rooms."

"Okay," Pat says, and waits. It's weird, not being able to see Brian; they usually text or video call, and even then, a combination of bad reception on the show floor, time zones, exhaustion, and workload had kept them from either of those this week. It's good, though, to be in the same virtual space now, even if its a pale imitation of the real thing. He hadn't realized how much he'd miss the full Brian Experience.

Someone talks to Brian, as he passes through the office, and Pat can hear Brian reply from a distance, the phone pulled away from his mouth: "no, it's fine, it's just Pat."

"Hey, Pattie! We miss you!" Simone hollers, loud enough for Brian's phone to pick it up.

"Remind her she owes me twenty bucks because they gave an actual release date for Animal Crossing," Pat instructs.

"Pat says hi, he misses us too," Brian says instead, and Pat smiles as Simone's indignant _bullshit!_ fades away as Brian closes the door to the call room.

"There," Brian says. "Nice and private. What's up, Pat?"

Pat exhales, angling his phone away so he doesn't blow out Brian's speakers. "Nothing. I really just wanted to call. I'm sorry I haven't until now."

Brian hums, noncommittal. "It's okay. I didn't call you, either."

"Yeah, well," Pat sighs. "You could have, you know. If you needed to."

Pat can practically see Brian's eyes narrowing as he works it out and sees right through Patrick, as usual. "Okay, seriously though, what is up," he presses.

"I watched your video," Pat says, by way of explanation. God, it seems presumptuous now, but he wasn't thinking straight when he'd paused the video and picked up the phone. "It's good, Brian."

"Oh, you think?" Brian says, brightening as he always does when Pat mentions watching his videos. Like he _wouldn't_ , hah. Like he doesn't watch them multiple times. "I realized when someone mentioned it, I forgot to edit in a note about the slur in the Nomad description, I feel like garbage about it."

"Oh," Pat replies, and runs his hand through his hair. "I didn't get that far," he admits, "I only watched to the part where you spliced in the update you and Jenna filmed yesterday."

"Oh, yeah, my _coworker Pat_ ," Brian says, and Pat can hear the smile in his voice. "Just two dudes being pals."

"Chillin' in the work Slack, three thousand miles apart so it's not gay," Pat finishes the reference, and Brian laughs loudly for a solid five seconds before he sobers again.

"You're… not mad about that, right?" Brian asks. "I didn't know what to call you. I know you're not, like, ready to come out or whatever."

"You're not technically out either," Pat reminds him.

"I called Keanu Reeves attractive in a _video_ , Pat," Brian teases. "Heads up, old man, you don't have to flash your membership card to be a certified bi any more."

"Yeah, well," Pat says, feeling his face heat like it always does when Brian can just _say_ things. He envies him, a little, for not having grown up with as much bullshit background radiation. "That's not why I'm calling, really."

"So there _was_ a reason."

"Well," Pat stalls. He stalls long enough that he realizes he doesn't know what he's gonna say after he stops stalling. "Uh, it's hard to say."

When Pat doesn't elaborate, Brian sighs. "...did I do something," he asks, and he sounds, just, so tired. "It's okay, if you're upset, I just… I don't know what it is, so just tell me, okay?"

"No," Pat says, quickly, digging his thumbs into the bridge of his nose. "No, it's not—sorry, I'm being an ass. I just, I noticed that you didn't, uh, shave."

"Oh," Brian says, and then is quiet for a few long, awkward seconds. "And that's… bad?"

"I mean, no?" Pat tries, wincing at how badly he's coming at this sideways. Christ, he's bad at being a boyfriend, honestly. "I just thought… you looked really tired, is all. I was worried."

"Well, it's been a fucking week, Pat," Brian says, and Pat winces again at the defensiveness creeping into his tone. "I've kind of been going through some shit, and I'm not afraid to add: literally."

"Sorry. I'm sorry," Pat apologizes. He doesn't know how to say—how to empathize, if Brian needs it, with how you can forget to shower, and shave, and put on nice clothes when the low periods hit after the highs. He doesn't know how to say that he feels kind of responsible, in a way, for not… for not being there, this week in particular.

He remembers the couple weeks after PAX, when Brian took a whole two weeks off of work and Pat came over every night, and they played video games, and fucked, and slept, and got high and tried weird 'grow your facial hair faster' face masks, and went out to the park and laid in the sun, and didn't talk about anything even a little bit related to work.

Instead, he's the aforementioned three thousand miles away, and Brian doesn't look like he's _showered_ in four days, and he can't help but think—if he was there—

Brian's quiet. "I'm sorry," Pat apologizes again, rubbing his eyes. LA is—LA is so fucking hot, and dry, and it doesn't have Brian in it. "I didn't know how much this would get to me. I guess I thought—I thought it might be the same for you. Sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"Pat," Brian interrupts him, and at least he sounds resigned instead of angry. "It's, yeah, it's been weird, but it's okay. I know E3 is bananas for you. Simone's been making sure I take breaks and eat lunch and stuff. Jenna tells me when to go to sleep. I'm managing."

"Okay, that's… good," Pat replies.

"Yeah," Brian says. Pat can hear him drum his fingers on the table in the call room. "It's… I'm just kind of checked out. Work already took its pound of flesh out of me this weekend, you know? And it's weird, not having you around. I didn't know it was that noticeable."

"Maybe just to me," Pat consoles him. "I wish I was there."

"You're not responsible for me, Pat. You don't have to make sure I shower and wear clean clothes."

"I know," Pat sighs. "I just… I saw you all wrapped up in my sweater, looking like you weren't taking care of yourself, and I just…"

"I miss you," Brian says, simply, and Pat's stomach does that lurch it does when Brian gets real sincere.

"I miss you too," Pat replies. "I didn't know how hard this would be."

"Look at us, all fucked up on each other and it's only been, like, three months," Brian says, and sniffles. "When do you get back?"

"I'm flying in tonight."

"Good," Brian replies. "Do you… do you want to come over, or…? I could come to yours? Or if you just want some time to decompress, that's fine—"

"Come over," Pat says, his turn to interrupt Brian. "I'll text you when I'm on my way home from the airport. It'll be, ugh, it'll be really late, though, because of the time change."

"That's fine," Brian says, quickly. "I'll stay up."

"It's a date," Pat confirms. "God, I can't wait to just… shower in my own goddamn shower with you, and just, like, lie around in our boxers all weekend."

"Sir," Brian says, all demure, "I am at _work_. Keep your perverted fantasies to yourself."

"Oh, that's exciting, is it?" Pat laughs, which triggers a cascade of giggles from Brian on the other end of the line. "I like it when you call me a pervert."

"You _are_!"

"You're one to talk," Pat teases, and Brian gasps and laughs louder.

"Mercy, please," Brian begs. "Some of us have to go back to work."

"Technically, both of us do."

"In an _office_ , Pat. With _Simone_."

"Okay, okay," Pat concedes, "No sex in the phone sex room."

Brian wheezes, and there's a thunk like he's put his forehead on the table. "I'll see you tonight," he says, muffled.

Pat can't help the smile that blooms across his face. "You got it, babe."


End file.
